Croatia, the newest member-state of the European Union (EU), undertook significant justice reforms during the last decade. Many were part of its justice-related EU accession process, including the enactment and implementation of new laws and amendment of others, improved case management and enforcement and computerization of land registers.
... Vea más + Benchmarking Croatia's justice sector indicates that it compares well with other European countries on several aspects of performance including resource indicators important for a functioning justice sector. However, the positive achievements and the deployment of significant resources have been offset by less-than-expected levels of overall performance, with high and growing demand for justice services facing an inadequate supply response. This report tries to lift the veil on the reasons behind justice sector underperformance despite relatively adequate budgetary allocations, comparatively high staffing levels, and a dense network of courts and prosecution offices. It provides a snapshot of Croatia's justice sector and of different aspects of its performance. It reviews the evolution of and trends in justice sector expenditures. It gives an assessment of sector expenditure management policies and practices. The report examines demand and supply issues in depth, juxtaposing data on caseloads, case disposals, and expenditures to identify implications for efficiency improvements. The report uses a supply-demand approach to assess the real challenges to improving sector performance, focusing on resource management, and allocation issues on the supply side and on case inflow on the demand side.
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The Croatia poverty rate, as measured by the international line of moderate poverty at dollar 5 in public-private partnership (PPP) terms, is estimated at 2.8 percent for 2012.
... Vea más + The share of the population at risk of poverty, based on a higher national and relative poverty line, also declined substantially prior to the 2008 global financial crisis, although has subsequently increased markedly. The global financial crisis, with the loss of credit, has exposed Croatia's macroeconomic vulnerabilities. This report shows that without addressing macroeconomic weaknesses, through sustained fiscal adjustment and institutional reforms, Croatia will not be able to reignite higher growth and benefit fully from European Union (EU) membership, and the quest for future prosperity may prove elusive. Similarly, without accelerating structural reforms, especially in the area of labor market, investment climate, and public sector efficiency, Croatia will face further stifled competitiveness and any prospects for recovery of growth and jobs. Focusing on the fiscal and public sector related deficiencies, this report systematically analyzes three interrelated issues to assist the Croatian government in informing public policy, strengthening macroeconomic stability, and laying the foundation for a robust recovery: first, it analyzes Croatia's major fiscal weaknesses, risks, and alternative fiscal scenarios, and on that basis, calculates the required fiscal adjustment needed over the medium term. Second, it analyzes the institutional weaknesses and requirements for the efficient use of EU funds in the coming years. Third, the report analyzes the structure of Croatia's public finances and provides a blueprint of the fiscal adjustment of around 5 percentage points of gross domestic product (GDP) over the medium term.
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The Croatia poverty rate, as measured by the international line of moderate poverty at dollar 5 in public-private partnership (PPP) terms, is estimated at 2.8 percent for 2012.
... Vea más + The share of the population at risk of poverty, based on a higher national and relative poverty line, also declined substantially prior to the 2008 global financial crisis, although has subsequently increased markedly. The global financial crisis, with the loss of credit, has exposed Croatia's macroeconomic vulnerabilities. This report shows that without addressing macroeconomic weaknesses, through sustained fiscal adjustment and institutional reforms, Croatia will not be able to reignite higher growth and benefit fully from European Union (EU) membership, and the quest for future prosperity may prove elusive. Similarly, without accelerating structural reforms, especially in the area of labor market, investment climate, and public sector efficiency, Croatia will face further stifled competitiveness and any prospects for recovery of growth and jobs. Focusing on the fiscal and public sector related deficiencies, this report systematically analyzes three interrelated issues to assist the Croatian government in informing public policy, strengthening macroeconomic stability, and laying the foundation for a robust recovery: first, it analyzes Croatia's major fiscal weaknesses, risks, and alternative fiscal scenarios, and on that basis, calculates the required fiscal adjustment needed over the medium term. Second, it analyzes the institutional weaknesses and requirements for the efficient use of EU funds in the coming years. Third, the report analyzes the structure of Croatia's public finances and provides a blueprint of the fiscal adjustment of around 5 percentage points of gross domestic product (GDP) over the medium term.
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Generating growth and creating jobs within a sustainable fiscal framework is Georgias biggest macroeconomic challenge. Although Georgia registered rapid growth of 5.7 percent a year during 2010-13, unemployment remains high at 15 percent.
... Vea más + New growth companies, especially in tourism and other service sectors, did not generate enough formal or even informal employment. Fiscal policy played a crucial role in Georgias recent growth performance with a fiscal stimulus driven post-crisis recovery which increased deficit and debt levels followed by fiscal consolidation during 2010-12 when recovery took hold. The weak execution of the budget in 2013 and policy uncertainty were largely responsible for the growth slowdown during the year. Tackling the growth and jobs agenda in Georgia will require significant investment in human and physical capital and the government has a large role to play here. Additional spending, where it is needed, should be undertaken within the fiscal consolidation agenda of the government, designed to help restore the macroeconomic buffers needed to secure stability and sustain confidence in the future. The change in government in 2012 marked a shift in fiscal policy with prioritization of recurrent social expenditures over capital spending, thereby, increasing budget rigidity. During 2012-13, the government raised the benefit levels under the targeted social assistance (TSA) and pensions and introduced universal health care (UHC). As a result, the fiscal deficit is likely to increase from 2.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013 to 3.7 percent in 2014. Over the medium term, an aging population and the need to improve health outcomes and coverage of the poor in social assistance programs will keep social expenditures high at more than 9 percent of GDP. The share of capital expenditures will level off, meanwhile. Such an outcome will reduce the governments flexibility in trimming current expenditures in the future.
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Generating growth and creating jobs within a sustainable fiscal framework is Georgias biggest macroeconomic challenge. Although Georgia registered rapid growth of 5.7 percent a year during 2010-13, unemployment remains high at 15 percent.
... Vea más + New growth companies, especially in tourism and other service sectors, did not generate enough formal or even informal employment. Fiscal policy played a crucial role in Georgias recent growth performance with a fiscal stimulus driven post-crisis recovery which increased deficit and debt levels followed by fiscal consolidation during 2010-12 when recovery took hold. The weak execution of the budget in 2013 and policy uncertainty were largely responsible for the growth slowdown during the year. Tackling the growth and jobs agenda in Georgia will require significant investment in human and physical capital and the government has a large role to play here. Additional spending, where it is needed, should be undertaken within the fiscal consolidation agenda of the government, designed to help restore the macroeconomic buffers needed to secure stability and sustain confidence in the future. The change in government in 2012 marked a shift in fiscal policy with prioritization of recurrent social expenditures over capital spending, thereby, increasing budget rigidity. During 2012-13, the government raised the benefit levels under the targeted social assistance (TSA) and pensions and introduced universal health care (UHC). As a result, the fiscal deficit is likely to increase from 2.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013 to 3.7 percent in 2014. Over the medium term, an aging population and the need to improve health outcomes and coverage of the poor in social assistance programs will keep social expenditures high at more than 9 percent of GDP. The share of capital expenditures will level off, meanwhile. Such an outcome will reduce the governments flexibility in trimming current expenditures in the future.
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Since the global financial crisis, Serbia's public debt has more than doubled. Local Governments (LGs) need to find ways to perform more efficiently, not only to contribute to national fiscal consolidation efforts, but also because they may have fewer resources available in the future.
... Vea más + This report represents a continuation of the World Bank effort to explore LGs finances. The first phase of this report focused on options for increases in local revenues; impact of further decentralization; options for reduction of subsidies in selected sectors; and how to control the public debt. The report is organized as follows. Chapter 2 examines LG hiring and pay policies. In addition to offering recommendations on how to achieve efficiency and savings, it sheds light on employment wage policies within LG enterprises. Chapter 3 deepens the analysis of local public utility companies (PUCs), which not only have significant responsibilities for delivering local services, but also often pose a significant pressure on LG budgets. On average, financial support to PUCs accounts for a quarter of local budgets. This chapter looks at the main issues and makes recommendations for efficiency gains. Chapter 4 discusses the most important public financial management issues for LGs, asking where better management and accountability could increase value-for-money and help extract additional benefits from current and capital expenditures. It examines budget preparation, execution, and reporting issues as a basis for recommending policies to increase transparency and accountability as well as more efficient use of resources. Chapter 5 summarizes the main conclusions and policy recommendations of the report.
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Since the global financial crisis, Serbia's public debt has more than doubled. Local Governments (LGs) need to find ways to perform more efficiently, not only to contribute to national fiscal consolidation efforts, but also because they may have fewer resources available in the future.
... Vea más + This report represents a continuation of the World Bank effort to explore LGs finances. The first phase of this report focused on options for increases in local revenues; impact of further decentralization; options for reduction of subsidies in selected sectors; and how to control the public debt. The report is organized as follows. Chapter 2 examines LG hiring and pay policies. In addition to offering recommendations on how to achieve efficiency and savings, it sheds light on employment wage policies within LG enterprises. Chapter 3 deepens the analysis of local public utility companies (PUCs), which not only have significant responsibilities for delivering local services, but also often pose a significant pressure on LG budgets. On average, financial support to PUCs accounts for a quarter of local budgets. This chapter looks at the main issues and makes recommendations for efficiency gains. Chapter 4 discusses the most important public financial management issues for LGs, asking where better management and accountability could increase value-for-money and help extract additional benefits from current and capital expenditures. It examines budget preparation, execution, and reporting issues as a basis for recommending policies to increase transparency and accountability as well as more efficient use of resources. Chapter 5 summarizes the main conclusions and policy recommendations of the report.
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The development of a wealthier, literate, and healthy society is a fundamental goal of Congo's national development plan (NDP) 2012-16 and poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP) 2012-16.
... Vea más + Appropriate funding allocations and efficient use of funds in education and health are fundamental for the development of the sectors. This public expenditure review (PER) of the Congolese education and health sectors aims at providing inputs to improve efficiency and equity in spending in these sectors. It takes into account the following findings of the macro PER: (i) spending on the social sectors is still low although it has increased over time; (ii) the fiscal space generated by the increased oil revenues has largely boosted investment expenditure; and (iii) budget execution is low which contributes to lower the real level of public spending. The PER is divided in two main parts. Part I, constitutes an overview of the two sector reports. Thus, it presents a brief analysis of the context of the country, a summary of findings of the education and health PER, a discussion on cross-cutting themes on spending in the two sectors, and a summary of recommendations. Part II includes the education and health PER.
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This policy note is part of the World Bank's Programmatic Public Expenditure Review (PER) work program for FY2012-2014. The PER consists of a series of fiscal policy notes, which aim at providing the Government of Tajikistan with recommendations to strengthen budgetary processes and analysis.
... Vea más + This policy note, the fourth in the series, continues the fiscal policy dialogue conducted in the previous notes. It is structured as follows. Section 2 describes the current state of public finance management (PFM) reform in Tajikistan. Sections 3 and 4 examine the amount and nature of public spending. Section 5 explores the objectives the Government aims to accomplish through its spending. Section 6 summarizes the conclusions of the note: 1) since 2009, significant progress has been achieved in strengthening the PFM systems in Tajikistan; 2) the PFM reform agenda remains large and complex and further progress depends upon overall progress in transparency, efficiency, and equitable governance; 3) the reasons for delays in PFM reform in Tajikistan have not generally been technical but have resulted from the challenges of managing the change associated with reform; 4) the Government is urged to refocus its efforts on delivering all targeted core reforms to obtain and share the amounts, nature, and accomplishments of public spending; 5) improvement in donor practices will help achieve these core objectives as well as facilitate planning, align budget spending with strategic goals, and strengthen accountability; 6) as the PFM reform strategy has passed its mid-point by 2014, the efforts need to be focused on completing the establishment of core PFM functions and on creating preconditions for more advanced reforms. This note provides a number of recommendations to the Government to help achieve its stated PFM reform.
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This policy note is part of the World Bank's Programmatic Public Expenditure Review (PER) work program for FY2012-2014. The PER consists of a series of fiscal policy notes, which aim at providing the Government of Tajikistan with recommendations to strengthen budgetary processes and analysis.
... Vea más + This policy note, the fourth in the series, continues the fiscal policy dialogue conducted in the previous notes. It is structured as follows. Section 2 describes the current state of public finance management (PFM) reform in Tajikistan. Sections 3 and 4 examine the amount and nature of public spending. Section 5 explores the objectives the Government aims to accomplish through its spending. Section 6 summarizes the conclusions of the note: 1) since 2009, significant progress has been achieved in strengthening the PFM systems in Tajikistan; 2) the PFM reform agenda remains large and complex and further progress depends upon overall progress in transparency, efficiency, and equitable governance; 3) the reasons for delays in PFM reform in Tajikistan have not generally been technical but have resulted from the challenges of managing the change associated with reform; 4) the Government is urged to refocus its efforts on delivering all targeted core reforms to obtain and share the amounts, nature, and accomplishments of public spending; 5) improvement in donor practices will help achieve these core objectives as well as facilitate planning, align budget spending with strategic goals, and strengthen accountability; 6) as the PFM reform strategy has passed its mid-point by 2014, the efforts need to be focused on completing the establishment of core PFM functions and on creating preconditions for more advanced reforms. This note provides a number of recommendations to the Government to help achieve its stated PFM reform.
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This policy note is part of the World Bank's Programmatic Public Expenditure Review (PER) work program for FY2012-2014. The PER consists of a series of fiscal policy notes, which aim at providing the Government of Tajikistan with recommendations to strengthen budgetary processes and analysis.
... Vea más + This policy note, the fifth in the series continues the fiscal policy dialogue conducted in the previous notes. It is structured as follows. Chapter 2 reviews the role of state-owned enterprises (SOE) in Tajikistan's economy and identifies key issues. Chapter 3 assesses the fiscal risks posed by SOEs, especially those in the energy sector. Chapter 4 puts forth possible solutions. Chapter 5 summarizes the main conclusions of this note: 1) despite privatizations and attempts at restructuring, Tajikistan still has a large, inefficient, and heavily indebted public sector; 2) the lack of comprehensive information about the sector undermines budget credibility and budget integrity; 3) multiple but uncoordinated functions, responsibilities, and accountability lines limit government ability to form a comprehensive view of the SOE sector, define a consistent strategy, and effect transparency, performance, reporting, and oversight; 4) elaborate QFAs of SOEs and other public institutions create substantial fiscal risks and undermine the hard-earned benefits of fiscal consolidation; 5) liabilities, explicit and implicit, created by SOE operations are large and must be accounted for and properly delineated; 6) solutions proposed to address the major issues are phasing out QFAs, optimizing the size and scope of the SOE sector, and improving SOE management; and 7) SOE reform should be an integral part of the general reform agenda.
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This policy note is part of the World Bank's Programmatic Public Expenditure Review (PER) work program for FY2012-2014. The PER consists of a series of fiscal policy notes, which aim at providing the Government of Tajikistan with recommendations to strengthen budgetary processes and analysis.
... Vea más + This policy note, the fifth in the series continues the fiscal policy dialogue conducted in the previous notes. It is structured as follows. Chapter 2 reviews the role of state-owned enterprises (SOE) in Tajikistan's economy and identifies key issues. Chapter 3 assesses the fiscal risks posed by SOEs, especially those in the energy sector. Chapter 4 puts forth possible solutions. Chapter 5 summarizes the main conclusions of this note: 1) despite privatizations and attempts at restructuring, Tajikistan still has a large, inefficient, and heavily indebted public sector; 2) the lack of comprehensive information about the sector undermines budget credibility and budget integrity; 3) multiple but uncoordinated functions, responsibilities, and accountability lines limit government ability to form a comprehensive view of the SOE sector, define a consistent strategy, and effect transparency, performance, reporting, and oversight; 4) elaborate QFAs of SOEs and other public institutions create substantial fiscal risks and undermine the hard-earned benefits of fiscal consolidation; 5) liabilities, explicit and implicit, created by SOE operations are large and must be accounted for and properly delineated; 6) solutions proposed to address the major issues are phasing out QFAs, optimizing the size and scope of the SOE sector, and improving SOE management; and 7) SOE reform should be an integral part of the general reform agenda.
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This policy note is part of the World Bank's Programmatic Public Expenditure Review (PER) work program for FY2012-2014. The PER consists of a series of fiscal policy notes, which aim at providing the Government of Tajikistan with recommendations to strengthen budgetary processes and analysis.
... Vea más + This policy note, the sixth in the series continues the fiscal policy dialogue conducted in the previous notes. It is structured as follows. Chapter 2 sets a macro-fiscal context for the analysis with a particular focus on fiscal policy challenges. Chapter 3 analyzes the composition and trends in capital expenditures to identify issues and offer solutions for improving efficiency of capital spending. Chapter 4 reviews a public investment management process in Tajikistan to identify weaknesses in the capital budgeting cycle (planning, budgeting, implementation, and audit), and to recommend measures and remedies to address shortcomings in these processes. Chapter 5 provides the main conclusions: 1) although Tajikistan has enjoyed high economic growth and substantial external assistance, increasing uncertainties about the global environment and the Russian growth outlook put Tajikistan's growth prospects at high risk, and the fiscal space will be very tight; 2) Tajikistan needs to address both equity and sector allocation efficiency issues to better mobilize resources in support of national priorities; 3) analysis of the public investment management system suggests that lack of a unified methodological framework, fragmentation, and poor institutional links discourage efficient use of limited domestic resources and attraction of external financing; and 4) the proposed reforms need to be sequenced to take into account implementation capacity and expected benefits. This note provides detailed recommendations to the Government regarding public investment management.
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This policy note is part of the World Bank's Programmatic Public Expenditure Review (PER) work program for FY2012-2014. The PER consists of a series of fiscal policy notes, which aim at providing the Government of Tajikistan with recommendations to strengthen budgetary processes and analysis.
... Vea más + This policy note, the sixth in the series continues the fiscal policy dialogue conducted in the previous notes. It is structured as follows. Chapter 2 sets a macro-fiscal context for the analysis with a particular focus on fiscal policy challenges. Chapter 3 analyzes the composition and trends in capital expenditures to identify issues and offer solutions for improving efficiency of capital spending. Chapter 4 reviews a public investment management process in Tajikistan to identify weaknesses in the capital budgeting cycle (planning, budgeting, implementation, and audit), and to recommend measures and remedies to address shortcomings in these processes. Chapter 5 provides the main conclusions: 1) although Tajikistan has enjoyed high economic growth and substantial external assistance, increasing uncertainties about the global environment and the Russian growth outlook put Tajikistan's growth prospects at high risk, and the fiscal space will be very tight; 2) Tajikistan needs to address both equity and sector allocation efficiency issues to better mobilize resources in support of national priorities; 3) analysis of the public investment management system suggests that lack of a unified methodological framework, fragmentation, and poor institutional links discourage efficient use of limited domestic resources and attraction of external financing; and 4) the proposed reforms need to be sequenced to take into account implementation capacity and expected benefits. This note provides detailed recommendations to the Government regarding public investment management.
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This report reviews intergovernmental fiscal relations in Moldova and recommends ways to improve the efficiency and equity of local public finance, while maintaining fiscal sustainability.
... Vea más + It is part of programmatic fiscal work aimed at assisting the Government of Moldova by providing a review of its public expenditures and budget, as well as recommendations to improve the efficiency and equity of fiscal policy. It complements and extends the 2013 PER, which examined public investment processes, institutions and sector policies, and recommended reforms to achieve better outcomes for public capital expenditures in Moldova. Local public authorities are responsible for meeting key public service delivery needs. They play a major role in education and bear primary responsibility for urban and rural functions such as water supply and local road construction and maintenance. The quality of these services is important for the poor, most of who live in underserved rural areas. To continue to reduce poverty and promote shared prosperity in a fiscally sustainable way, intergovernmental fiscal relations thus have a significant role to play, notably by helping reduce inequalities in the quality of public services, enhance human capital and facilitate access to markets. This report reviews recent reforms in local public finance and makes suggestions to further improve subnational expenditures, fiscal policy and budgetary processes. Suggestions are made in five key areas: (i) address the inefficiencies of expenditures related to the high fragmentation of Moldovas administrative-territorial organization; (ii) improve the efficiency and equity of intergovernmental transfer formulas; (iii) help develop the revenue capacity of local governments; (iv) improve public investment management at the local level; and (v) ensure sustainability of subnational debt.
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Vietnam has come far in improving fiscal transparency. Building on these gains could help strengthen macroeconomic management, improve market perceptions of risk, and increase accountability for service delivery.
... Vea más + Fiscal transparency is an important element of the Government's policy dialogue with development partners, particularly in the context of ongoing budgetary support. External reviews of PFM and fiscal transparency in Vietnam have noted important progress though highlighted considerable scope for improvement. This report aims to complement ongoing PFM reviews, including the Government's Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessment, to help identify relatively low cost measures to strengthen fiscal transparency. It draws on existing diagnostic approaches to carry out a technical review on the public availability of fiscal information (section B), and the coverage, comprehensiveness and presentation of fiscal reports (sections C and D).
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Vietnam has come far in improving fiscal transparency. Building on these gains could help strengthen macroeconomic management, improve market perceptions of risk, and increase accountability for service delivery.
... Vea más + Fiscal transparency is an important element of the Government's policy dialogue with development partners, particularly in the context of ongoing budgetary support. External reviews of PFM and fiscal transparency in Vietnam have noted important progress though highlighted considerable scope for improvement. This report aims to complement ongoing PFM reviews, including the Government's Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessment, to help identify relatively low cost measures to strengthen fiscal transparency. It draws on existing diagnostic approaches to carry out a technical review on the public availability of fiscal information (section B), and the coverage, comprehensiveness and presentation of fiscal reports (sections C and D).
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Turkey has experienced rapid growth and improved social outcomes over the past decade. Per-capita income in United States dollar (USD) terms tripled during the first decade of the 21th century, and Turkey is now the world's 17th largest economy.
... Vea más + Fiscal policy was an important component of the reform program that delivered these successes. Prudent fiscal policy also provided the fiscal space to soften the blow of the global economic and financial crisis in 2008-2009. This report documents the central role played by fiscal policy over the last decade and presents simulation results from a computable general equilibrium model that will help inform the future direction of fiscal policy to support sustained high growth. The dynamics of fiscal outcomes and private investment and savings raise a series of tradeoffs for policy going forward. The analysis in this report suggests that public investment can crowd-in private investment and promote a more sustainable growth path. Government revenue dynamics present another set of trade-offs. These fiscal trade-offs are likely to be exacerbated as the structural transformation of Turkey's economy slows down. Structural reforms can support the fiscal policy pivot, particularly by strengthening the supply side of the economy, for instance through an increase in female labor force participation.
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Over the past two decades the Kyrgyz Republic implemented important health financing and organization reforms. Compared to other former Soviet republics and other low-income countries, the Kyrgyz Republic shows good results in term of health outcomes, access to health services, and financial protection.
... Vea más + Life expectancy exceeds that of several of the most prosperous former Soviet republics, including Russia. Infant and under-5 mortality rates were halved between 1990 and 2010. More than 98 percent of births are attended by skilled health staff and children immunization rates exceed 90 percent. Utilization of both hospital and outpatient health services are quite equal across income groups. Overall distribution of public health spending is slightly pro-poor. The Kyrgyz health system shows low incidence of catastrophic and impoverishing out-of pocket spending for health care.
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The Kyrgyz Republic has seen a rapid expansion of public spending on education in recent years, yet the sector continues to be plagued by a number of challenges.
... Vea más + Efficiency of spending is low across the education system, and sustainability of sector financing is threatened by large outlays on wages following rapid wage growth during 2010-2012 and high shares of resources going toward food and utility costs. Lack of investment in the necessary teaching and learning materials contributes to low education quality, with over 80 percent of 15 year olds scoring at "functionally illiterate" levels in the 2009 PISA assessment. Coverage remains low in pre-primary education, while equity of education service provision varies widely across localities and social groups. The practices surrounding education sector governance could also be improved and brought in line with international standards. This chapter is composed of six sections. Section two presents an overview of the Kyrgyz education sector, covering its structure and governance, demand for education services, and recent spending trends. Section three discusses disparities in access, quality, and public spending across localities and social groups. Section four analyzes the efficiency and sustainability of education sector spending. Section five looks at determinants of education quality and options for their improvement. Section six concludes and offers concrete policy recommendations for sector reform.
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